Always expect the unexpected by Angela Caldin
You hear a lot about retirement planning these days and I’d be the first to agree that it’s a good idea to put money aside to finance a comfortable retirement so that you can do, with luck, what you’ve always wanted to do. Global citizens But let’s remember that what we’re talking about here is financial planning which is all well and good, but what we can’t plan for is what life and our families are going to bring us. In our case, it is a life in two hemispheres – six… Read More
Shopping as a source of discord by Angela Caldin
There’s tension and discord in our house again. This time it’s a dispute over shopping practices in general and where to shop in particular. Vouchers as focus of irritation My husband favours Sainsbury’s because he says there is a wide variety of products of good quality – he finds their muesli is second to none and values the generous amount of fruit it contains. I don’t argue with this at all. He also thinks their check-outs are efficient with their combination of self service and cashier tills. I grind my teeth in… Read More
Me and IT by Trevor Plumbly
For BH a dear friend and TH a brother outside law From top to bottom It’s not been the best year healthwise: back surgery in December, a Giardia infection in March, followed by an ear infection in July and now ‘IT’ in August. Cancer, I’ve discovered, is a cunning bugger; it doesn’t announce its presence, it just sneaks in to any body part willing to house it. With me it’s the colon. Like most, I’ve never paid that much attention to that particular part of my body; it’s worked as a waste… Read More
Toupee or not toupee by Trevor Plumbly
Taking a dim view I never took much notice of blind people. They were there, of course, but short of a flush of sympathy and a few guilt dollars, there wasn’t much else I could offer. Things became a lot clearer (excuse the pun) when my own sight failed. In some respects I’m lucky: whilst my particular problem is inoperable, it is taking time to inflict total blindness and, as a result, I’ve been able to adjust on a gradual basis. But yearly visits for specialist assessment always show a little more… Read More
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